Today was a very very fun day. First stop: bander and maartje for the latter's birthday. While there, hiryu and jonesybunny also dropped by so I could kill three birds with one stone. Wool for Maartje, a Wok and stirfry cookbook for Ryu and Jim Henson's Storyteller on DVD for Jones. They all looked happy with their gifts, which made me happy too :)

Then the long drive home to my parents. Since my brother and I work almost every day (and night) it's hard to get 'the family' together. But today was such a day and in order to catch up on all the festivities we hadn't celebrated yet (mother's day, father's day, Xmas (in advance)), my brother and I took our parents out for dinner.

The venue was Restaurant De Lindehof in Nuenen, close to Eindhoven. According to the most popular review-guide in The Netherlands, they're at #75 on the top 100 of the best restaurants in the country. And lateron in the week I discovered they have a Michelin star as well (One of the most prestigious awards for a chef). So I knew this wasn't gonna be cheap :p.

Ho. Ly. Shit. This was one of the best dinners I had in my life, and I'm not saying that because it was a posh restaurant. Heck, I can really enjoy a nice steak, but this was a whole different level. Check this out:

Trio of amuses: Pumpkin soup with northsea shrimp and foam of salsify; puree of lentils with a brussels sprout wrapped in bacon; mousse of dutch cheese layered with mushroom jelly and emulsion of watercress.***Zander with crunchy shortbread, french lentils, foam of celeriac and strips of gingerbread***Slowly cooked halibut with tandoori seasoning, a chutney of sweet and sour cucumber and foam of salted olives***Baked coquilles Saint Jacques with crust of hazelnut and parmesan cheese, served with a 'sausage' of leek filled with parsley and truffle, sauce Nouilly Prat***Baked beef tenderloin with stamppot of carrot and onion, and sauce of bay laurel***PRE-DESSERT: Shotglass with homemade caramel layered with fresh whipped cream***EXTRA PRE-DESSERT (Which the chef probably arranged for us after having a chat at our table and discovering me and my brother are both in the restaurant business): A nitro-bomb of dutch yoghurt with mousse of white chocolate and a pomegranate-jellybonbon

At this point, the dessert-chef came to our table with dutch yoghurt and a pan filled with a layer of liquid nitrogen. He dropped a few spoons of yoghurt into the pan and fished them out again, serving them to us, telling us to just let it melt into our mouths and DEFINITELY NOT CHEW IT! Voila, nitro-bombs. Cool. Icecold even. :)

***And then eventually dessert: For my mom and my brother: Dutch yoghurt (hangop) with squashed figs and homemade honeysyrup with camomille ice cream. For my dad and me: 'Tarte Tatin' of apple with foam of oranges and mousse of white chocolate.

Add a few glasses of wine, water and tea to that and you can imagine what a great night I had. With a number of culinary orgasms.

Must scoot now, more work tomorrow and I still have to drive from Eindhoven to Leiden. Man, I'm stuffed, happy and my parents just won't stop thanking me and my brother. :)